Hi there, first time poster here, I thought this was easily the best subject for my first post.

Welcome aboard and congratulations for actually answering the question, which is more than I managed with my semi non-answer above. I tend to think Beatles For Sale is a bit underrated, too: the covers of "Rock and Roll Music" and "Kansas City" are terrific, and the more bluesy / C&W feel to much of the album is a good conceptual move after A Hard Day's Night. It's probably true that much of that comes from the band simply being tired and already wearying of Beatlemania, but the impression the album leaves by way of contrast with its predecessors is that these aren't guys who'll stick to a formula.

Sorry, but I have to fight this battle every time it comes up. MMT was an album compiled by Capitol Records, unsanctioned by the group, containing old hits, b- sides and songs from the UK EP. It's no more a Beatles album than Hey Jude or Something New. It's like saying Rock'n'Roll is better than A Hard Days Night.This is why we never argue the merits of Yesterday or Nowhere Man as singles, because The Beatles never intended them to be as such. Nor did they ever intend I Am The Warus to appear on an album along with Penny Lane. Phew. Sorry. This is a pet peeve of mine.

Well, while I understand your argument here, I think that MMT is the ONLY capitol album that should be respected. I hate (or would hate if I ever listened to them) the Beatles' early capitol albums because of the track listings. that being said, I like the Magical Mystery Tour Album. a six song double EP? that's lame. I know what you mean when you say that the Beatles didn't "intend" for it but let's face it, the US version of Magical Mystery Tour has become the official version. it's the version you buy in the UK nowadays. I'm happy to have Penny Lane and Strawberry Fields on an LP.....where they belong.

my only beef with the MMT LP is Hello Goodbye starting out side two of the vinyl (or following Walrus on CD). I think songs like Penny Lane and Strawberry Fields have plenty of "Magic" in them to warrant their release with the film songs. but Hello Goodbye sure doesn't. I always thought that side two should open with Strawberry Fields followed by Penny Lane.

and to answer the thread's question, here is my list of albums from favorite to least favorite:

bruno232

1. SGT. PEPPER'S (difficult choice between this one and REVOLVER, one could argue that most of the songs on REVOLVER were stronger, but the album SGT. PEPPER's is stronger than the sum of the parts)

2. REVOLVER (a brilliant album, that any artist would have considered the pinnacle of his career)

3. RUBBER SOUL (In some aspects the strongest album the band ever recorded, there are - almost - no weak songs on it and R.S. was the best album ever made until 1965)

4. ABBEY ROAD (a beautiful album, and my personal favourite)

5. THE BEATLES (a masterpiece, of course and an album pointing the direction(s) for all the artists to follow)

6. A HARD DAY'S NIGHT (the first Beatles' album that had all killer no filler)

7. WITH THE BEATLES (good early Beatles album, a huge step forward from PLEASE PLEASE ME)

8. LET IT BE (not great, but an album containing such classics as "Across the universe", "let it be", "the long and winding road", "get back" and some solid songs like "two of us" or 'I me mine' isn't that bad either

9. PLEASE PLEASE ME (mostly dated now, but the exceptions are wonderful: "I saw her standing there" and "twist and shout" rank among the best the band ever recorded, while "Do you want to know a secret" and "there's a place" are slumbering gems)

10. HELP! (The Beatles were musicians, not moviestars, Help! has a couple of good songs though ("Ticket to Ride", "Help", "Yesterday", "You've got to hide your love away")

11. BEATLES FOR SALE (disappointing, two or three good songs)

12. MMT (an EP with some high points, including the brilliant "I am The Walrus"; most of the songs on side one however are mere filler, only saved by studio experience; of course the singles on side two are excellent, even brilliant, but that material had been issued before)

13. YELLOW SUBMARINE (not even an album, though side one contains the excellent "Hey Bulldog")

1. SGT. PEPPER'S (difficult choice between this one and REVOLVER, one could argue that most of the songs on REVOLVER were stronger, but the album SGT. PEPPER's is stronger than the sum of the parts)

2. REVOLVER (a brilliant album, that any artist would have considered the pinnacle of his career)

3. RUBBER SOUL (In some aspects the strongest album the band ever recorded, there are - almost - no weak songs on it and R.S. was the best album ever made until 1965)

4. ABBEY ROAD (a beautiful album, and my personal favourite)

5. THE BEATLES (a masterpiece, of course and an album pointing the direction(s) for all the artists to follow)

6. A HARD DAY'S NIGHT (the first Beatles' album that had all killer no fille7. WITH THE BEATLES (good early Beatles album, a huge step forward from PLEASE PLEASE ME)

8. LET IT BE (not great, but an album containing such classics as "Across the universe", "let it be", "the long and winding road", "get back" and some solid songs like "two of us" or 'I me mine' isn't that bad either

9. PLEASE PLEASE ME (mostly dated now, but the exceptions are wonderful: "I saw her standing there" and "twist and shout" rank among the best the band ever recorded, while "Do you want to know a secret" and "there's a place" are slumbering gems)

10. HELP! (The Beatles were musicians, not moviestars, Help! has a couple of good songs though ("Ticket to Ride", "Help", "Yesterday", "You've got to hide your love away")

11. BEATLES FOR SALE (disappointing, two or three good songs)

12. MMT (an EP with some high points, including the brilliant "I am The Walrus"; most of the songs on side one however are mere filler, only saved by studio experience; of course the singles on side two are excellent, even brilliant, but that material had been issued before)

13. YELLOW SUBMARINE (not even an album, though side one contains the excellent "Hey Bulldog")

hey bruno welcome to the forum m8 in my original topic i asked what youre favourite albums in order would be, would abbey road not be number if its youre personal fave ?

bruno232

hey bruno welcome to the forum m8 in my original topic i asked what youre favourite albums in order would be, would abbey road not be number if its youre personal fave ?

Oh, yes, indeed, if put that way, Abbey Road would top my list, but I tried to rank the albums from the one that I thought to be the best to my worst... I love SGT. PEPPER'S, but somehow I like it more to listen to AR

bruno232

I like Beatles For Sale more than Hard Day's Night too. other than Things We Said Today and the title track, there's not that much that interests me on Hard Day's Night

Not that much? If I fell, And I love her, Can't buy me love? I'll be back? I should have known better? (AHDN started the Byrd's career)...

On "for sale" there are too many covers for one, and, some are really embarassing (Mr. Moonlight which should really have been replaced with "leave my kitten alone" for one). No reply, i'm a loser and eight days a week are good tracks, but there's so much filler on it. I think it's clearly a step backwards, There is no song imo on for sale that is a match for the best on AHDN........ I mean: just look at the cover

Not that much? If I fell, And I love her, Can't buy me love? I'll be back? I should have known better? (AHDN started the Byrd's career)...

On "for sale" there are too many covers for one, and, some are really embarassing (Mr. Moonlight which should really have been replaced with "leave my kitten alone" for one). No reply, i'm a loser and eight days a week are good tracks, but there's so much filler on it. I think it's clearly a step backwards, There is no song imo on for sale that is a match for the best on AHDN........ I mean: just look at the cover

I agree with you 100% on this. (And I would have loved to have heard Kitten on For Sale too! I love that song!) If we're judging album covers then yes, I'd say Beatles For Sale is one of the best but not for content and certainly not over A Hard Days Night. But of course, everyones opinion varies.

And to answer the original question, I would have a hard time actually ranking all the albums in order of my preference.

I would put The White Album at the top (a lot of people think thats weird but its my favorite album), followed by Abbey Road and at the bottom of the list I would probably put Beatles for Sale. As someone said earlier, it was like a step backward and there were more cover songs on it than i would have liked to see. I'm sure some of this can be attributed to the insane touring and appearance schedules...when do you find time to write? let alone write great stuff? Lump all the other albums somewhere in the middle of those.

bruno232

OK, so I've limited my choices to the 5 albums from 1965 to 1969 who are generally considered to be the Beatles' finest. I consider MMT an EP, therefore I have not taken it into account in this poll (otherwise I would have to include "Meet The Beatles!", "Yesterday and Today" and so on, you get the point, ... I see this from a pre-CD, British-release only point of view). I have also left out all post- and pre-1973 compilations.

bruno232

That's fine with me, I like the early albums too ... alot even (I mean, I like everything the group ever recorded), I can thoroughly enjoy an album like A Hard Day's Night... But the best it ain't... (not meaning it isn't great: it is).